Have you ever looked around the room at a networking luncheon and wondered, “Why on earth do we all need to be here?”

Another day, another luncheon...

It turns out that science has an answer to that.

Scientists from the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and from Yale University have conducted research* that concludes that “(t)ouch remains perhaps the most under-appreciated sense in behavioral research” and that “greetings involving touch, such as handshakes and cheek kisses, may in fact have critical influences on our social interactions, in an unconscious fashion.”

It may be because touch is the very first sense we use to experience the world that it is powerful enough even to override the evidence we get by way of visual information. From the cushiness of a chair to the weight of a clipboard, the effect of the physical objects in conjunction with which we conduct our interactions and business have a profound and often unexpected impact so that just seeing is not necessarily believing. As the researchers state:

First impressions are liable to be influenced by the tactile environment, and control over this environment may be especially important for negotiators, pollsters, job seekers, and others interested in interpersonal communication, The use of ‘tactile tactics’ may represent a new frontier in social influence and communication.

Does this research mean that no one should bother with an internet presence? Of course not.

Does it mean we should abandon email? Or Facebook? Or Twitter? Unthinkable!

Does it mean that we need to pounce on one another physically at networking events like a lion on a wounded gazelle? Dear me, I do hope not. (And surely there’s already enough of that going on already!)

But, in our ever-more-virtual world, we do have to go out of our way (and out to lunch) to make the physical connections that cement relationships with the deeply sensory impressions that can seal the deal.

*For a more complete abstract of this research, please visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100624140908.htm

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